Batter Up: The Federal i3 Grant Program

Today in Baltimore is the first of three technical assistance sessions across the country for potential applicants to the USDOE’s i3 program. I have written two different entries on i3, click here and click here to read them.

In a nutshell, the USDOE has set aside $650 million of Federal stimulus funds for education for this competitive grant program. The deadline for applications is May 11; and the “intent to apply” is “requested” by April 1st. The final guidelines were released on March 8th. There were relatively minor changes made in the final guidelines from what had been issued as a draft.

School
districts and non-profit organizations in partnership with districts or
consortia of schools can apply for the grants. To qualify, applicants must
address one of four priorities aligned with the reform areas under the ARRA:
teacher and principal effectiveness; enhanced data systems; college- and
career-ready standards and quality assessments; and improving achievement in
persistently low-performing schools. Applicants may get competitive preference
points if their projects sufficiently address one or more of following priority
areas: early learning; college access and success; serving students with
disabilities or limited English proficiency; and serving rural district
students.

Evidence is a
formal eligibility requirement. The regulations have specific definitions for
what constitutes “moderate evidence” and “strong evidence,” and the i3 Fund will
award three types of grants based, at least in part, on the level of evidence. Development grants (up to $5 million each) will require a reasonable
hypothesis and be aimed at developing fresh ideas. Validation grants (up
to $30 million each) will require moderate evidence and be aimed at validating
and spreading promising programs to regional scale. Scale Up grants (up
to $50 million each) will require strong evidence and be aimed at bringing
proven programs to national scale.

With i3 open to thousands of school districts on their own, and in partnership with non-profits of all kinds, I believe this is going to go down in the history books as the most competitive grant program of all time.

There are three different categories to choose from, so to speak, and a required private match of 20% cash or services in-kind. The private match is one of the changes that appeared in the final issued guidelines, in that a bit more leeway is being given on proposing private match in the application. The USDOE appears to be very bullish on the notion that i3 grantees will have little trouble making the private match.

So, here’s the basic set of links for those who want to look a bit further at this opportunity. Most of the education pundits are predicting that the majority of grants will go to big league charter management organizations, like KIPP.

I will say, for those arts organizations that just submitted their AEMDD grants to the USDOE (the deadline for submission was this week), jumping right into i3 will test the mettle of any organization’s program and development staff.

i3 will support the development of path-breaking new ideas, the
validation of approaches that have demonstrated promise, and the
scale-up of the nation’s most successful and proven education
innovations.

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Richard Kessler

Dewey21C

is a blog dedicated to the belief that the arts are part of our genetic code. The belief that the arts are in the DNA of every person, and that our job as teachers, parents, mentors, advocates, and administrators is to provide quality, sustained arts … [Read More...]

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For those who have followed Dewey21C, hopefully you’ve noticed that I have been silent since the end of July. A month off from work followed that last post, and as we’re blowing through September, I have started a new chapter in my career as Dean of the Mannes College The New School for Music.

It’s not all that often that one gets a month off. It was a month that I viewed as time to leave behind the past seven years at The Center for Arts Education, while clearing my mind for the very new challenge of leading a music conservatory that is part of a fairly unorthodox university (The New School). It didn’t hurt that one of the founders of The New School, and father of its initial educational design was none other than John Dewey.

There is so much that I want to share about these early days in my tenure. I thought it would be a good call to start with something that had that sort of cold water in the face feel as soon as arrived at The New School.

In K-12, the pathway to college is and has been for many years the brass ring. Ten years ago it was simply getting students to college. For arts educators, we were being asked what we were doing to increase the high school graduation rates, with the presumption that graduates would move along to college at increasing rates, in addition to simply ensuring a higher high school graduation rate and all that it implies. Slowly it became about college and career readiness, which is the key frame for the Common Core Standards. What should a student know and be able to do in college and career. One way or the other, K-12 policy has been about getting more and more students to college, even if remediation rates are alarmingly high.

At the very same time, higher education is under fire. In almost every respect higher education is being challenged, whether it’s on the basis of cost, design, relevancy, etc.

Some say it’s better to attend DIY college. Others question the value of the degree altogether. It’s too expensive. It’s too abstract. The model is busted. There is no accountability. There is no data. It is hand cuffed by tenure and unions. Freshman enrollment is down. Students are taking longer to graduate.

Naturally, the above includes just a few issues in common with K-12.

You have to admit, at the very least, how fascinating it is to witness a sort of accountability movement in higher education, one which at time calls to question fundamental value, while at the very same time, most of K-12 policy continues to triangulate on moving students to college.

For me, at my new position, there is one particular question from K-12 that I find to be the perfect lens to peer through: what should a graduate know and be able to do. It is through that particular frame that I believe assessment and improvement is possible at my new job.